


The Batterwitch's Zombie Army

by livistotallyawesome



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Zombiestuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2017-12-15 15:19:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 13,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livistotallyawesome/pseuds/livistotallyawesome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You hate calling them ‘zombies’. It sounds so much like one of John’s dumb horror movies when you do that, but what else are you supposed to call them? </p><p>An animated corpse by any other name is still a fucking zombie.</p><p>[Indefinite hiatus]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the upcoming release of World War Z. I just figured there were not enough Zombie AU fanfictions.

You are in love with him.

 

There’s no question about it, not now. It’s so fucking obvious, you can’t believe it’s taken until now for you to realise.  

 

You watch him breathing, thankful that he’s fucking breathing, and focus on that for a while. It keeps you awake, and you need to be awake.

 

You clutch your sword a little tighter with every noise you hear, but there really isn’t much point. You’re all safe here. Bro’s training came in handy – you know what you’re doing.

 

Sort of.

 

There’s a plan, of course. You and Rose had gone over it, just before the incident at the bridge. Just before Kanaya…

 

That was your fault. The whole thing was entirely your fault, and even though Rose keeps telling you it wasn’t – you know it is. It doesn’t matter that she doesn’t blame you, because you blame you.

 

Bro would be so disappointed.

 

Rookie mistake, really. Thinking your small group could take on a horde like that? There wasn’t a fucking chance.

 

Your mind is wandering, which is dangerous. You watch his chest again, rising and falling. It’s barely visible in the dim light of this room.

 

You’d been lucky to find this place, really. Old bomb shelter. Karkat was the one who’d stumbled across it. Literally. Fucking faceplanted after tripping over the manhole entrance. You’d all laughed at him, except Rose. Rose was too busy gripping that fucking scarf and-

 

You’re thinking about it again. You need to stop.

 

It’s not often that Karkat saves the day. He’s done it once before, despite the fact that he’s chosen fucking sickles as a weapon and refuses to take on anything else except a small pistol. You don’t even know where he got the fucking things. But this was the first time in the while that he’d helped out rather than ruined everything, so he was feeling pretty pleased with himself.

 

The electricity had stopped working about two weeks ago, you reckon. Time was relative these days, but you liked to think you were keeping track. Your cell phone, though useless for making calls, still had some charge left. You kept it off mostly to save it. But every now and then, you’d just check. Maybe someone was trying to get hold of you, just maybe.

 

It was stupid to hope. That was Jake’s job. Or, had been you guess. He wasn’t much of a hopeful guy these days. Not since Bro died.

 

You guess you haven’t been the same since then either.

 

But that was a long time ago. Months probably. Jake was getting better. Jane and Roxy were helping with that.

 

And John was helping you.

 

His chest rises and falls and you sigh. So fucking glad he’s breathing.

 

A hand is suddenly on your shoulder and you jump, turning slightly, your knuckles white from the grip on your sword.

 

“Relax, it’s only me,” Jane stands there, her hands raised, smiling. You breathe a sigh of relief.

 

“Sorry…long day,” you relax, feeling the tension in your shoulders and neck lessen a little. Only a little.

 

“Long few months,” she says, sitting down beside you. You nod in agreement. “You can sleep now, you know.”

 

“Yeah, thanks,” you smile as best you can at her, but you’re not even sure your mouth moves. Jane pushes her glasses up her nose, a habit you notice John has picked up since all of this. She was a lot thinner now, which was a shame. But, then again, everyone was. Food was a luxury, and food in excess was nothing short of a miracle.

 

Miracles didn’t often find your little group.

 

Jane still looked nice, she still had these massive breasts that you just couldn’t help but stare at sometimes. Especially when she’s fighting, Jesus fuck. She was still very pretty, and her hair wasn’t well kept at all, but still suited her and looked great. You wonder if you still looked how you used to. She’s staring at you, and you can’t quite think why.

 

“Dave? Sleep?” She gestures to the floor where everyone has found a place to kip for the night. There isn’t a lot of space. Jane had been sleeping next to Jake and Roxy, the three of them huddled up together under the same blanket. You glance around for a place where you will fit and, seeing nowhere, you sigh and look to Jane for help. She laughs, despite everything.

 

“I’m sure John won’t mind sharing,”

 

You frown a little. Holy shit she knows. How the fuck does she know. You miss, not for the first time, your shades, which are broken on a street somewhere about fifty miles away. You’re still getting used to not having them, still getting used to everyone staring at your eyes.

 

“Right,” you mumble, hoping she doesn’t pick up on your panic. You look up and she’s smiling like normal. She might know, but it doesn’t look like she cares. You stand, propping your sword up on your shoulder, just like in the animes, and head to where he’s sleeping.

 

Quiet as you can, you lay your sword on the floor next to you and slip carefully under the blanket, the underneath of which smells like dirt and dust and, of course, John. With one final look at Jane - who’s smiling is starting to get a little condescending - you fall asleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

“Dave, wake up!”

 

“Leave him be, John. He needs rest.”

 

“But we’re leaving soon. He’ll get mad if we don’t let him wake up a bit before we head out!”

 

“I still don’t see why we’re wasting time with that shitdick. He thinks he’s the leader in this fucking situation, but in my humble opinion, he can blow his own sword. And I mean that literally.”

 

“Karkat, shut up!”

 

“No, I will not fucking shut up, Jade! You’ve seen his fucking eyes! If he isn’t one of them, then someone explain that shit to me, because I haven’t got any fucking ideas here!”

 

There’s a tense silence. You open your eyes to see the side of John’s head, and Rose’s face just above him. You sit up, shrugging the pain of lying on hard concrete off as you do. You rub the sleep from your eyes before looking at everyone. John and Jade look concerned, Rose looks apathetic as always, and Karkat has the decency to look a little ashamed.

 

“So…how much of that did you hear?” John asks. You shrug.

 

“All of it, I guess? It’s cool,” you glance at Karkat “if you wanna leave, bro. I ain’t making you stay here. My Bro had a plan and I’m sticking to it. You can come with if you want, but considering I’m the one here who knows this plan inside-fucking-out since I’ve had it drilled into me since I was a kid, I think your chances of living are best if you stick it out with us.” You start kneading the tense muscle in your neck.

 

Karkat grumbles something that you don’t quite hear before leaving to talk to the others, who you guess are sorting out the rations you all found in here. John smiles at you.

 

“He’s just a bit grumpy,” he says, and he pushes up his glasses and you immediately think of Jane. He’s so much like her it’s creepy sometimes.

 

“Yeah, a bit grumpy and mutinous.” This earns you a small laugh and you smile back.

 

“We’re gonna be leaving soon, Dave! You ready to get out there and give them what for?!” Jade, ever excitable, shouts from your other side.

 

“You know it, Harley,” you hold out a hand for her to fist-bump, which she does immediately. You only cringe a little this time.

 

“How are you feeling?” Rose interjects, peering at you over John’s shoulder. You frown.

 

“Fine, why?”

 

“It’s just that you are the last of us to awaken, and even then it was only after we had a loud conversation right at your bedside.”

 

“Just tired, I guess,” you shrug, feeling the pain in your shoulders again. You begin to wonder if maybe something else is up rather than just muscle tension.

 

It doesn’t look like you’ve been injured, but then it’s hard to tell seeing as everyone is pretty much covered in dirt and blood. You’ve been at war, it isn’t surprising. You spot a small bathroom off to the side of the shelter – no doubt the plumbing’s not working – and you look at John.

 

“Then again, pretty sore up here,” you give the top of your back a quick pat and wince, “Mind having a quick look, bro?” You gesture to the small room with your eyes and he nods.

 

“Sure Dave!” You both get up, ignoring Jade’s whining that it isn’t a big deal to strip in here, and Rose’s concerned frown, making your way to the other room.

 

Once inside, John whispers; “Are you ok? Are you hurt? What’s wrong? Are you dying?”

 

You roll your eyes, pulling your shirt off and turning your back to him.

 

“You tell me. Anything going on around here?” You point to the area of your back that hurts.

 

“It’s…pretty badly bruised Dave,” John sounds upset.

 

“There blood?” You ask.

 

“No…but it doesn’t look good. Dude this is your spine! This can’t be a good thing at all!” His voice is starting to rise a little, so you turn around and put your hand over his mouth.

 

His eyes drop to your chest and then back up. You glance down yourself, the branded area just scar tissue now. No longer bloody and raw like when you first got it. John had seen it plenty, but it was only since this all began that he really understood the implications.

 

“It’s fine. If it’s not bleeding, then we’re good. They smell fresh blood, not bruises.”

 

A bruise isn’t so bad. It’ll heal eventually; it’s just a bit sore. You might not be able to move properly for a while, though. Now that you think about it, it probably happened the other day when you’d ended up on your back with one of them…

 

You take your hand away from his lips and reach for your shirt. There was a time when blood red was your favourite colour. Now you can’t stand the sight of it as it covers your shirt. John’s hand grabs your wrist.

 

“Dave, wait…” You are suddenly very aware that you are in an enclosed space with the boy you love and you are not wearing a shirt. Or shades anymore.

 

“What?” It comes out sounding a lot harsher than you intend it to, but he doesn’t seem that shocked. He yanks your wrist to turn you so your back is facing him again and a large warm hand rests on the injury gently.

 

“It looks like it hurts…” he mumbles. You can hear his frown and you want it to go away, so you just let him touch you.

 

“Well yeah, it ain’t exactly pleasant,” you reply, your voice a lot lower than you want it to be. You clear your throat.

 

John lets go of your wrist, apparently happy that you’re not going to run away as soon as he does. His hands are suddenly travelling all over your back, and it takes all you have not to suck in a quick breath.

 

“What are you doing?” You ask, happy with how your voice comes out this time. You don’t sound threatening, just genuinely curious, and it’s not even shaking.

 

“Checking for more injuries,” he pokes at the small of your back, and you gasp this time. Jesus fuck, it’s taking a lot not to get a boner right now. You start thinking about Rose, which makes you think about Kanaya, which pretty much kills any chance of you getting hard.

 

“Oh jeez, did that hurt?” He presses the spot again, a little gentler this time. You shake your head.

 

“No man, it’s fine,”

 

“Really? You made a noise. You sounded like you were in pain.”

 

“Well I wasn’t, so let’s just get my shirt back on and leave okay?”

 

“Dave…” there’s a pause, and you can hear him smile. The miniscule wet sounds of his lips brushing over his teeth as he fucking grins behind you. “Daaave…are you ticklish?”

 

“Okay, now is not the fucking time for this,” You attempt to jerk away from him, but he’s got ridiculously strong hammer arms and so you can’t move very easily.

 

“Hehehe,” his fingers dance up your sides and holy shit do you want to indulge in this, but the group’s leaving soon, and you’re sort of pretty fucking important to the whole mission.

 

“John, I’m not ticklish, and as much as I know you wanna figure that out for yourself, if you don’t let me get my shirt on right now, the others are going to leave without us.” You sound stern. It’s what he needs. His hands fall from your body and you let out a sigh of relief.

 

“Okay, Dave!” You turn and he’s holding his hands up, grinning, “But this is so not over!”


	3. Chapter 3

“Jade, cover me!”

 

“You got it!” You hear a couple of gunshots, but you don’t look up. You trust Jade’s got the situation under control.

 

“Yo, Sollux, you hear me?” You say to the body on the ground next to you. Got a fucking hole right through his stomach. You can see his fucking organs and you know it’s too late. It’s too fucking late again. You’re the worst leader. What the fuck were you thinking?

 

“Don’t beat yourself up about it Strider,” Sollux croaks, even smiling. “Shit happens. Nothing you can do about it.”

 

“Nah, man. We’ve got you. It’s fine,” you lie. You pick up his glasses, broken next to his head and hold them up. “Can’t say the same for these though, bro. Looking like we won’t be getting them repaired anytime soon,”

 

“Dude, you think I don’t know a lost cause when I see one?” He’s not looking at the glasses. He’s shaking, and he’s looking down at himself. You tilt his chin up to stop him.

 

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” you warn. The gunfire stops, so you guess the worst is over. You hear a lot of cursing and shouting, and that can only be Karkat. You step out of the way as he comes running to Sollux’s side. It’s probably best that you leave them to it.

 

You back away, trying to ignore the fact that Karkat is crying, because that bastard doesn’t cry easily, so you know this one really hurts. They were, like, best friends or something. Really close. It’d probably be how it’d feel to you to lose Rose or Jade. Speaking of Jade, she’s standing not too far away, backpack stuffed full, and her rifle tucked under her arm. You head over.

 

“It’s not your fault,” is the first thing she says, and you can’t help but laugh a little bitterly at that.

 

“Sort of is, Jade. My idea. My fault.” You shrug, wiping the blood on your sword off on a patch of grass.

 

“We needed to do this, and we needed him to do it,” she said, putting a hand on your shoulder. You shrug it off.

 

“Could’ve brought more reinforcements.”

 

“No Dave. We couldn’t risk putting too many of us in danger, you know that.”

 

“Could’ve given Sollux extra guard. We know he ain’t good at fighting. I should’ve stuck by him instead of going ahead like I always fucking do.” You angrily stuff your sword into its sheath, cutting your thumb as you do so. You stare at the ground, anger building up inside of you. Anger at the world. Anger at this situation. Anger at yourself.

 

“Dave, it’s a bad idea to blame yourself for this. We need you, Dave, and we need you to be strong. If you break, then the rest of us do…” Jade sounds a lot older and wiser than she used to. You probably all do. Except maybe Karkat.

 

“Okay, I’m sorry,” you look up, meeting her eyes, and she smiles sadly at you. She leans forward and kisses your bloody cheek, wiping it off on the back of her hand. You scrub at her mouth with the sleeve of your jacket. “That’s so nasty Harley.”

 

She grins when you pull your sleeve away and you smile at her for a second before you hear a loud, heart-wrenching cry.

 

The two of you turn around and see Karkat hunched over his friend’s body, sobbing. Jade looks at you and you nod, heading over to him.

 

“I’m sorry,” you say, not bothering to soften it all with a ‘bro’ or a ‘man’ or whatever. Now’s not the time for shit like that.

 

“Fuck you! Fuck you Dave Strider! Fuck you so much! Fuck you!” He looks up at you and his face is a fucking mess with tears. You feel like shit.

 

“I’m sorry,” you repeat.

 

This goes on for a while. At some point, he pulls you down to him, and you let him. Then he wraps his arms around you, which at first you think is a strangling technique, but you let him. And then he’s just crying into your chest, and hitting you half-heartedly, and you let him. You exchange ‘I’m sorry’s and ‘Fuck you’s until he passes out.

 

You carry him back to the bus. 


	4. Chapter 4

At least you got medical supplies from the whole ordeal. Rather than at the bridge, where Kanaya’s death could not be justified, at least Sollux had died for a purpose.

 

Dude was the best lock picker in the group, and it’s tragic that he’s gone, because now the best lock picker is Jake fucking English and you’re not sure you can stand many more missions with him.

 

When you’d gotten back to the bus, everyone had asked what had happened. Jade told the story – you weren’t in the fucking mood.

 

She told them how you, her, Sollux and Roxy had broken into the hospital, fought tooth and fucking nail against a whole mess of undead fuckers, and salvaged that place for any and all the medical shit you could fit in your packs. And it was a pretty impressive haul.

 

You find some Tylenol in the pile of meds and take it, swallowing it dry. You’re glad Karkat’s still passed out in the back of the bus or he’d probably get real fucking riled up at you using up all the supplies.

 

“Everyone, help yourself to shit if you need it right now. No questions asked.” You glance at Jade who’d gone straight for a stray box of tampons Roxy had found. “But don’t use it all. Use it sparingly and wisely, okay?”

 

You’re greeted with a chorus of ‘yeah’ and some nodding. This is all second nature now. They know the drill just as much as you do. You walk to the back of the bus and take a seat, sighing. It feels good to sit down.

 

The bus had been Jake’s call, and it was the first time since Bro was gone that you didn’t hate him. You’d found it on the stretch from the shelter to the hospital. It was abandoned on the road, a bright yellow school bus with just enough gas to get you to the hospital and a bit further across the city. It’s a heist you’d been planning since you all rolled into town two days ago and saw the hospital. You just knew there’d be some helpful crap in there, and you all needed it, especially seeing as food was getting hard to come by. You hear the quiet murmur at the front of the bus as everyone helps themselves to the shit they need. You close your eyes, leaning back against the window.

 

A ‘thump’ startles you.

 

You’re sitting opposite a sleeping Karkat, and outside his window is one of them.

 

It paws uselessly at the window, eyes red and wide and unblinking. It’s filthy, and its bloodstained lips are open wide as it groans. Its hair is pretty tidy, and it looks almost human except for those eyes and that unhinged jaw. Its clothes are barely torn. Must be a fresh one.

 

You look at the others. They haven’t noticed yet. Jane’s slapping Jake’s hands away from the haul and Roxy’s laughing at them. John’s fixing up Jade’s arm for her, while Rose tells him what to do. Kanaya and Rose were the best at medical stuff, so Rose was teaching everyone else how to do shit properly since she died. You hear some more noise from opposite you and you dart your eyes back to it.

 

Fuck.

 

It figured out how to slide down the window and is reaching for a sleeping Karkat. You unsheathe your sword. Leaping across the aisle, you take the thing’s arm in your hands and bring your sword down hard, severing it. You throw it’s own arm at it through the window and it hits it’s face. The thing falls back a little and you slip the window shut again just as it comes charging back. By this point, you’ve jostled Karkat awake, and he’s scrambled to the other side of the bus, a little disorientated.

 

“You okay?” You lock eyes with him, but he’s just staring past you, mouth open. You frown and look behind you, out of the window, and see a fucking horde approaching.

 

“English!” You shout up the bus. Everyone’s already looking at you, having just watched you disarm (pun intended) that thing. They’re not paying attention.

 

“Yes, Dave?” He replies.

 

“Get this bus moving fucking pronto!” You jab a finger at the window and, instead of looking at the one you injured, they look past it and see the horde.

 

“Fuck!” You’re not sure who says it, but you can’t help but agree with them.

 

“Everyone! Get the medical supplies into bags; we can’t afford to lose this shit! Sollux didn’t fucking die for nothing, you got that?!” They do as you say, shoving the meds into their packs. The bus shudders to life, which only makes the horde notice you.

 

“Close the fucking door, English!”

 

“I’m trying, chap! I can’t figure out which of these buttons does it!” It seems a little abuse is all he needs to not fuck up, because the doors then close. You know you don’t have much gas left in this bus, but that’s a worry for later. For now, you just need to get the fuck out of there. You turn to the others. They’re all sitting down, Jade just finishing bandaging up her arm, and they look ready to go.

 

“Step on it,” you call to English, and step on it he does. You slump down into a seat, closing your eyes again.

 

Jesus fuck.

 

“That was close, Dave!” A hand slaps your back and you cry out in pain.

 

“Oh my God!” You look up and see Jade with a hand over her mouth. “Dave, I’m sorry! I was trying to watch my strength – I even used my bad arm!” She holds out the bandaged arm and you shake your head, gritting your teeth as the pain throbs and fades with each heartbeat.

 

John is suddenly next to you, looking concerned.

 

“You okay, man?” He asks and you nod, not trusting your voice just yet.

 

“Dave, you need to let me see.”

 

“No,” you and John both say in unison, sharing a look.

 

“This is ridiculous. If you are hurt, then I must insist you let me look at you,” Rose frowns, her hands moving to your shirt. John stops her.

 

“It’s okay Rose, really! I had a look this morning. It’s just some bruising. Practically nothing!” He even laughs, waving his hand dismissively. You’re pretty impressed, and very glad he’s covering for you.

 

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal. Just gotta take some painkillers and rest up,” you say, voice strained. The pain is all but gone by now, it’s just the tense situation that’s bothering you. You just want Rose to let it go for once.

 

“Fine,” and holy shit there we go. She just did. “But you’d better actually rest this time, Dave.”

 

“What, right now?”

 

“Right now,” she says, frowning at you.

 

“Oh come on, Rose. Y’all need me to be conscious right now. We just started moving out.” She places a gentle hand on your shoulder and pushes you to rest against the window.

 

“We’ll wake you if we need you,” she says.

 

“Fine, Jesus fuck,” you grumble, “but make sure to stop if-”

 

“We see a gas station,” Rose finishes for you with a small smile.

 

“Yeah, or-”

 

“Oh! I know!” Jade chimes in, “Big department stores!”

 

“Yeah, all right, I guess I got you drilled pretty good,” you tell them with a little smirk. Not that they can see, seeing as you’re facing away from them. You can already feel the pain in your neck from leaning at this odd angle.

 

“Pretty well,” Rose corrects, patting your head once, “Now, sleep well, Dave.” You hear her moving away, along with Jade. John stays.

 

“Let’s switch.” He says.

 

“What?”

 

“Seats. I’ll sit by the window, and then you can use me as a pillow. Gotta be better than the window, right?” He laughs and stands up, steadying himself on the back of the seat. You nod, too tired right now to argue, and move. He climbs in, resting one arm along the back of your seat, and the other on the back of the seat in front. You sit down next to him and he pulls you down so your head rests on his shoulder.

 

“Get some sleep, okay Dave?” You close your eyes because, holy fuck, how did you not realise you were this tired?

 

“Yeah sure,” you mumble as you drift off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, my chapters are awfully short and heavy on dialogue aren't they... sorry about that.


	5. Chapter 5

You wake up feeling fucking fantastic.

 

And you’re not even being sarcastic.

 

Painkillers must’ve kicked in, and being surrounded by the warmth and smell of John is a definite plus. You pretend to be asleep for a little while longer, even daring to drape an arm over John’s waist. Blame it on a sleep and painkiller induced daze. You don’t even care if he makes fun of you.

 

You feel something tighten on your head and you suddenly realise that his fucking hand is in your fucking hair, and you’re not sure you can deal with that, so you sit up, blinking a lot.

 

“Hey Dave. Did you have a good nap?” His hands fall to his lap, and he smiles at you. You nod.

 

“Yeah, fucking peachy. Except having to deal with your bony-ass shoulder of course,” you mumble, your voice still not quite awake yet. He laughs.

 

“Whatever, dude. You know my shoulder’s full of manly mangrit! Don’t even!” He hasn’t laughed like this in a few days. You hadn’t realised how much you’d missed it.

 

“Dave? You’re up?” Hearing a voice to your left, you turn to see Jane smiling at you.

 

“Sure am. What can I do you for?” Your voice is pretty much back to normal by now, but you wish you had some mints or something.

 

“Signs for a Walmart up ahead. We wondered if we should give it a shot?”

 

“Depends,” you say, stretching, “how much gas we got left?”

 

“We actually stopped for some while you were sleeping,” John cuts in, “we didn’t want to wake you. But Jake, Jane and Roxy headed out and managed to fill the whole tank! It was really something!” You frown.

 

“Wake me up next time. No exceptions,” you want to congratulate them all on a job well done, but leaving you out of stuff like this is not a good idea. They shouldn’t be doing dangerous shit alone without you having asked them to. Jane and John nod.

 

“Well, if we’ve got a full tank, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t check it out,” you say to Jane. “Let English know, okay?”

 

“Got it,” she smiles at you, patting you on the head as she leaves.

 

You like Jane a lot. Not only is she kind and thoughtful, but she’s skilled too. Mostly at cooking – which is definitely not a bad thing. She can take the shit you guys manage to scavenge and, no matter how little or gross the ingredients, she finds some way to make it taste edible. Sometimes even fucking good. She can fight too, to an extent, but it certainly isn’t her forte. Still, Jane’s got this atmosphere about her – she feels like a mother, and it’s not in a bad way. It’s nice, and it’s comforting.

 

But it’s fucking annoying when she totally ruins your hair.

 

John laughs at you while you fix it.

 

“How’s he doing?” You ask John.

 

“Who? Karkat?”

 

“Yeah. He doing okay?”

 

“I guess. Hasn’t said much since you were out, and it’s been probably four hours since then, I’d say.”

 

You decide not to take his word for it. John never was very reliable at guessing the time.

 

“He can sit this one out,” you say, watching out the window as you see the signs telling you the store is getting closer. You get up from your seat, sighing as your joints pop into place, and grab your sword as you head to the front of the bus to talk to your tactician expert.

 

By which you mean talk to Roxy.

 

***

 

“Jane, Karkat and Rose will stay here and guard the bus,” you confirm with Roxy, who nods, “while you, me, John, Jade and Jake will head in there.”

 

You point out of the window at the empty-looking Walmart. The engine is off now, and there’s an eerie silence outside. You don’t know what it is…but something feels wrong about how quiet it is. Unfortunately, none of you have had a proper meal in days, so it was either risk this too-easy run, or starve.

 

If you’re going to die, you’re gonna go fighting.

 

“Yep sounds real good, Dave,” Roxy grins. “Man with a plan, aren’t ya? You remind me a lot of him ya know?”

 

You go still for a moment. You know exactly who she’s talking about.

 

“Yeah,” you reply, “I know.” You look up and the two of you lock eyes. She’s a pretty girl, Roxy. Big pale blue, almost grey eyes, small button nose, sharp cheekbones, slim but strong, and her hair always looked perfect, just like Rose’s. 

 

You’re not gay, that much you know. If it comes to it that you’ve gotta chose one lady and repopulate the earth, it’s not gonna be a problem for you. Ladies are fucking hot. Boobs are fucking awesome. Don’t even get you started on vaginas, damn those things are great.

 

But then…there’s John.

 

You’d never really been in love before. Sure, you’d hooked up with girls in the past – you weren’t a virgin – you’d even had some relationships before. You never understood what your brother saw in Jake English, and you never understood why he acted the way he did around him. After you realised how you felt for John, it all made sense.

 

When your brother used to blow you off to hang with Jake? Made sense.

 

When your brother used to give Jake his jacket when he was cold? Made sense.

 

When your brother fought his fucking hardest, sacrificed himself to save Jake? Made sense. So much fucking sense.

 

Roxy’s staring at you, waiting for you to make the call to go. In fact, everyone’s staring at you. You clear your throat, pretending you were just going over the plan in your head one more time.

 

“John and I will take front formation. We’ll open the doors to the store; make our way through as much of the crowd as we can. Roxy, Jake and Jade: you’ll fall in behind us once we’ve gotten through the doors. We’ll split into two groups. John and I will go to areas with clothes and medicine. Toilet paper, band-aids, fucking DVD players or whatever – that’s us. We’ll have that covered. You three are going to grab as much food as you can. Perishables are worthless, go for shit in cans if possible. The longer the life, the better it is-”

 

“C’mon Dave! We know all of this!” Jade whines. You roll your eyes.

 

“Alright, alright, fine.” You stand, unsheathing your sword and letting yourself smile a little. You fucking love cutting loose…pun in-fucking-tended. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

*** 

 

It all goes a little too smoothly. There aren’t many of the things inside, just a few stragglers. It’s odd, for a superstore like this. It’s not uncommon for survivors to camp out in them, which usually draws the things to them. But not this time.

 

You and John get through the doors easily, and the others file in behind you without any problems. You split up as instructed, and grab as much shit as you can. You’re shoving some feminine hygiene products into your bag when you see John looking disgusted out of the corner of your eye.

 

“Something wrong?” You ask.

 

“Dude…ew,” he says, gesturing to your stash. You snort.

 

“Seriously? God knows how many months of literally smashing in skulls, and you’re scared of a little tampon?”

 

“Not scared! Just…it’s gross!” He’s grabbing some clean clothes, not looking at what he’s taking. You’re sure you saw a Hawaiian shirt go in there that Karkat would just love!

 

“Blood is blood, bro,” you shrug, “and the ladies need this shit. When they get their period it increases our chances of getting attacked. Plus, you saw Jade take them this morning, and women who live together often have their cycles synchronised. If she wants them, the others are gonna need them too. It’s common sense, John.”

 

“Okay! Okay! Oh my God, Dave, that’s so disgusting, wow.” He shudders and you laugh.

 

“Dude, if vagina’s freak you out so bad, maybe you shouldn’t be allowed near them.”

 

“Are you calling me a homosexual, Dave?”

 

It’s nice to have some time where the two of you can act like how you did before the fucking apocalypse happened. Just best friends, having fun.

 

John’s hammer lies forgotten on the floor.

 

“Why the fuck do you even use that thing? You’d do better with a gun,” you tell him, moving on to underwear.

 

“Don’t mock the glorious wrinklefucker! I made my first kill with that!” He says, laughing. You snort in reply.

 

Next thing you know, a barrel of a gun is at your head.

 

“Drop the panties, kid, if you know what’s good for you.”

 

You drop everything you’re holding, bag, sword and all. You see someone else has a gun to John’s head.

 

“We don’t want any trouble,” you say carefully. “We’ll leave this shit here and be on our way. Ain’t nobody gotta die today.”

 

“Don’t flatter yourself, princess. You really think you’re such a threat?” The voice by your ear, female you determine, replies. You quickly assess the person pointing a gun at John. Also female, shorter than your assailant. Glasses, vision impaired. You can take her.

 

“Then what do you want?” You ask.

 

There’s a moment of silence between the four of you. John’s new friend looks towards yours, her red glasses comically useless, as they silently discuss something. The person beside you sighs heavily.

 

“We want your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeey! A longer chapter! This is the last one you'll probably ever see. Also, what is characterisation! Haha!


	6. Chapter 6

You’re led – at gunpoint – to the back of the store. You weren’t allowed to take your sword with you, but you’d rather leave it behind and come back for it than have a bullet lodged in your brain. John’s next to you, also weapon less, and also with a gun to his back.

 

“You know, this would probably go a lot smoother if you weren’t threatening to kill us,” you tell your attacker. You can see her now. Dark complexion, thick black hair pulled into two long impractical braids, and a pink bandana holding the hair out of her eyes. She’s tall and strong, and definitely older than you. You had your eighteenth birthday around two months ago, and she looked to be in her late thirties.

 

“Yeah maybe,” she shrugs, grinning, “but how can we trust you not to run away, huh kid?”

 

“You think this is the first time we’ve taken prisoners?” John’s assailant chips in. You roll your eyes.

 

“What do you even need our help for? It’s just us here. It’s not like we’re gonna be much use.” You’re greeted with some hearty laughter.

 

“You really think we didn’t notice your friends coming in here? Trying to steal our food? C’mon kid, we’re better than you give us credit for.” You smirk a little. They don’t know about the others on the bus.

 

“Well good, because you had legit no credit until just now in my books, so-”

 

“Dave!” John chastises you. “Do you think maybe you could be less of a dick when there’s a real chance we might die?”

 

“What? You heard them. They need our help. They won’t kill us unless we pose a real threat to them, which, without our weapons, is pretty fucking unlikely,” you explain. The barrel of the gun jolts against your back, and you’re pretty sure you hear her growl or something.

 

“So, Dave, huh?” She says, “That’s a pretty name.”

 

“Well oh my,” you say in your best ironic deadpan southern belle voice, “what a gentleman.”

 

She laughs at that as you reach the ‘Staff Only’ door at the back of the store. There’s a long, empty hallway that you and John are marched down. The vending machines on either side are broken and, probably, cleared of anything useful. You enter the break room, and what you see surprises you.

 

More survivors.

 

You count five, including the two who led you here. But five is amazing. Five is unbelievable.

 

Hell, you’d fucking say that five is a miracle.

 

Unfortunately, those five miracles just so happen to have guns pointed at you, John, and also Roxy, Jake and Jade.

 

And that’s something you’re not okay with.

 

“Jesus Christopher Cringlefucker,” Jake whispers as you walk in and, okay, that’s kind of endearing, but you still hate him. “They got you guys too…”

 

“What do you want from us?” you spit out, suddenly really fucking angry. You reckon it as something to do with that fucking greaser over there giving Jade the eyes. Hell no.

 

“You got a tight-knit group there,” the greaser says with a heavy New York accent, “there’s gotta be a medic in here somewhere, or you’da all died by now.”

 

You look up at him and he gasps, pointing his gun at you.

 

“Shit, Meenah, you brought one of them things in here?!” He shouts, and you roll your eyes. The gun that was on your back is suddenly on your forehead, and your attacker is standing in front of you, looking you in the eyes.

 

“Shit!” She shouts, and you hear her flick off the safety and holy shit how had you not fucking realised she hadn’t shut off the fucking safety ‘til now?

 

“Wait!” It’s John. He sounds panicked. “He’s not one of them! Trust us! He hasn’t even been bitten or anything, you can see that!”

 

“He’s right,” you say, “I’m not one of them, and I’m not turning. You hear me, right? Full sentences here. I even rap, you know. You wanna hear some rapping? You ever heard a rapping zombie before? I can tell you haven’t, because they can’t fucking rap, and I can.”

 

“Wow,” that’s Roxy’s voice, “I should’ve known you’d try to bargain your life with crappy rapping,” she snorts, “holy shit that nearly rhymed. Am I a member of the crap rap club now?”

 

“Shut up!” You can’t see because this Meenah chick is in front of you, but you hear something that sounds suspiciously like a kick, followed by Roxy coughing. You grit your teeth.

 

“You want medical help? Fine. But we ain’t stupid enough to put our sexy nurse in any danger by bringing her with us,” you explain. “We’ve got a bus outside, and she’s there with the other members of our gang.”

 

Meenah’s eyes go wide.

 

“There’s…more of you?” She asks.

 

“Yeah,” John cuts in. “There’s us five, and three more back on the bus,”

 

“There were more of us,” Jake adds, “but…well…this is war after all. Bound to be some…casualties.”

 

“This motherfucker knows all about casualties,” a strange voice cuts in. Drawling, fluctuating between soft and harsh tones.

 

“Shut up, Gam,” another New York accent, but this one is a little higher in pitch. Younger. “We don’t got time for your shit right now. Vris is-”

 

“We will help you,” you say, “believe me. The last thing we want is to be your enemies. We can give you medical assistance, and then we will be on our merry fucking way. All the crap we tried to take, we will leave. No one else has to die today.”

 

You and Meenah stare at each other for a while. You assume she’s the head honcho here, she’s got that air about her. She knows what you’re saying. ‘No one else’, she knows you’ve seen enough death today, and she knows you don’t want to see any more unnecessary bloodshed. Her gun drops, much to the greaser’s protest.

 

“’Aight,” she says, nodding, “everyone, guns down.”

 

“What? Meenah, you’re fucking crazy! You can see his eyes, he’s fucking lying!”

 

“Shut your fucking trap, Cronus. If I say I trust him, then that’s fucking final. You can leave if you wanna,” she snaps at the greaser. Reminds you of what you said to Karkat this morning. This chick isn’t so bad.  

 

“So what’s wrong?” Meenah moves out of your line of sight, and you see the rest of your party again. Jade is standing, her hands twitching since she has no rifle to hold.

 

“One of us is injured,” Meenah sighs, shoving her pistol into the holster on her hip. You look around, frowning.

 

“You all look fine,” you say.

 

“W-Well of course we’re fine, you fuckin’ idiot. W-We’re not gonna keep an injured kid out in the fuckin’ open,” the younger New Yorker argues. He’s got a ridiculous purple stripe in his hair, and it’s growing out.

 

“A…kid?” Roxy asks in a small voice. Meenah laughs.

 

“She ain’t much older than this one, to be honest,” she claps a hand on your shoulder. You don’t even blink, but the hand tightens, “but she is my daughter.”

 

The room is still. You feel kind of fucking awful for even thinking about not helping now. You’d die to have your family back, and you’re sure a lot of the others here would too. But, since that’s not something you can have, the best you can do is help someone else keep their family going. 


	7. Chapter 7

Vriska is nineteen. She’s been shot in the arm. Meenah had explained something about Cronus dropping a gun, and it firing as he did, hitting her daughter.

 

Vriska was lucky that it didn’t hit her heart.

 

“I won’t be able to help her,” you say to Meenah as you look at the girl’s arm, “but Rose might. We need to get her to our bus asap.”

 

“Hold on a fuckin’ minute, kid. You think we’re gonna trust you with your red eyes and shit?” Cronus is such a pain in your ass, Jesus Christ.

 

“We want to help!” That’d be Jade.

 

“Exactly, chap! We want to help you all out here. There is no need for this young lady to suffer when we have a perfectly good medical assistant back on our vehicle!” Jake chimes in, all fucking British and shit.

 

“Ignore him,” Meenah tells you all, “he’s just pissed ‘cause my girl won’t date his cousin.”

 

“Uh! Now, see here! I didn’t w-want to date her anyway!” The dude with the purple hair says.

 

“As interesting as this is,” you interject, “she needs attention right now. Help me get her to the bus,” you tell John, who nods and helps you lift her. You carry her upper half, while he supports her legs.

 

“Well hey,” she smirks at John, her voice faint and croaky from disuse. “You’re a cutie aren’t ya? Did my Momma choose you special for me?”

 

John laughs uncomfortably, smiling awkwardly at her. He doesn’t have the heart to turn her down, or whatever.

 

Or maybe he thinks she’s hot, too. Who knows?

 

Now’s not the time to think about it.

 

You all get to the bus. Jane’s the first one out to help, while Rose busies herself getting her shit together. You guess Karkat’s still moping in the back.

 

“Survivors?” Jane breathes, helping you get Vriska into the bus. John smiles at her.

 

“Six of them!” He says as your lie her down in the aisle. Rose hums thoughtfully when she sees the wound. You love that she doesn’t panic.

 

“What do you think?” you ask. “Fixable?”

 

“To an extent.” Rose nods. “I’ll need as much space as possible. You must all leave us be.”

 

“No,” Vriska says from her spot on the ground, “Mom…”

 

Meenah’s at her side, clutching her good hand. You look up at Rose who sighs.

 

“Fine. But everyone else: out.”

 

You all exit the bus, except Karkat and Jane. Jane will act as Rose’s assistant here, seeing as that’s how it’s been since Kanaya died. You saw Karkat’s back facing you when you were on the bus, and you figured it was safe to say that he wasn’t going to be bothering anyone back there.

 

You take a look at the group around you.

 

There’s your party: Jake, Roxy, Jade and John.

 

And there’s the other party: Cronus, dude with purple hair, bro who hasn’t said much, and chick with the stupid glasses.

 

You’re very aware of how little you know about these people.

 

“I guess introductions are in order,” you say, gathering their attention, “The name’s Dave Strider – sword master and self-elected leader of this gang here on account of my sweet lyrical skills and even sweeter body.” You hope it’s obvious you’re just joking. Roxy is grinning beside you.

 

“I’m Roxy.” She waves at them, “and I’m an alcoholic…or,” she giggles, “used to be, I guess. Saw some tequila on the shelves in there though.” She points at the store. “You guys are pretty well-stocked y’know.”

 

“Jake English!” He extends a hand that no one takes. “Professional gunslinger and making-ladies-swoon-er!” You roll your eyes.

 

“Hi, I’m Jade,” she waves at them and smiles, but you can see it’s strained. She wants her rifle back as soon as possible.

 

“I’m John,” he smiles warmly at them, and it  dawns on you how long it’s been since you’ve met new people. You remember how happy John was when you’d found Karkat and Sollux. He just loved seeing survivors. “It’s great to meet you.”

 

“Likewise, brother,” the tall, lanky one with the wild hair reaches across and shakes John’s hand, even though it wasn’t outstretched, “My name is Gamzee. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” You notice his voice is still fluctuating. You make a note that, should they join your group today, he will not be joining in on any stealth missions.

 

“Terezi,” the girl in the glasses says, grinning wickedly. She approaches you and sets a firm grip on your upper arm as she leans in and fucking smells you. “I don’t see what the fuss about you is. You don’t smell infected.”

 

“As in I don’t smell like a fucking corpse?” You ask her. She laughs at that.

 

“No, they have their own…different scent. It’s like humans but…a little sweeter,” her smile fades a little.

 

“Okay, so, Gamzee,” you point at him and he smiles, “Tree…fuck,” you settle a hand on her shoulder and she laughs again. You like that sound. It’s nice.

 

“Terezi!” She barks at you.

 

“Right, right. Teabags,”

 

“Terezi!”

 

“That’s what I said, Mother Theresa,”

 

“Oh you think you’re cool, Mr. Coolkid?”

 

“It’s funny, that’s actually what they call me. All this ‘Dave’ shit was just a cover. You sniffed right through me, Telephone,” you’re smiling and that’s fucking weird because you don’t normally do that unless you’re talking to John.

 

“Hey Terezi,” speaking of John, he suddenly interrupts, “could I ask about the glasses?”

 

“Oh, right,” she lets go of you and takes them off, revealing underneath them pale white eyes, “I’m blind.”

 

No one really knows what to say to that. It’s a fucking bum deal. You don’t know how she hasn’t died yet.

 

“Not a big deal,” she says, putting her glasses back on, “I could still kick your ass all the way to Sunday, Coolkid. You just watch.” She grins and punches your shoulder lightly.

 

“Whatever, Terezi,” you reply.

 

“You said it right!”

 

“What, just now? Trembling thighs?”

 

“Fuck you.”

 

“Fuckin’ shit, you two are annoying,” Cronus cuts in, “I’m Cronus, and this is my cousin, Eridan.” He points to the douche with the purple hair.

 

“I can fuckin’ introduce myself, you w-wankstain,” he growls. Jade clears her throat.

 

“Why do you do that?”

 

“W-What? Call my dickhead of a cousin a w-wankstain?” He frowns at her, confused.

 

“No, the w-w-w-w thing!”

 

“It’s a fuckin’ speech impediment. Get over it.” He’s blushing and okay, that’s kind of funny. You hear Terezi laugh next to you.

 

“He’s like that. They both are. Shortest tempers I’ve ever seen!”

 

You think about telling her about Karkat, but you’re not sure he’s ready to meet new people just yet. He lost his best friend a few hours ago…and while you think he and Terezi will get on, you’re not sure now’s the time to introduce them.

 

“Well,” you say, “lovely to meet you all, but do you mind if we go back and get our weapons? I mean, you can keep the shit we were taking, but if I don’t get my sword back, I might do something drastic.”

 

Gamzee mutters something that sounds like ‘Hold up a second, brother,’ and sticks his head into the bus. You don’t bother stopping him; if he’s stupid enough to bother Rose while she’s working, he doesn’t deserve a head. Still, he comes back unscathed and grinning.

 

“Meenah said you can take whatever you motherfucking like.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, very dialogue-heavy. I seem to be incapable of writing anything that isn't. My apologies.


	8. Chapter 8

You all come back to the bus with your bags heavy. Jade’s showing off her haul of tinned fruit, which is a fucking amazing find, yes, but she could do to stop going on about what a great finder she is. John’s holding up a pink crop-top to his torso and asking if he looks good. You’re currently wondering whether pinching his butt and telling him ‘yes’ would be ironic enough to work. You decide it wouldn’t.

 

Gamzee and Terezi came with you guys, Gamzee helping Jade and the others with the food, and Terezi joining you and John. John doesn’t seem to like her so much, and part of you really hopes it’s because he’s jealous.

 

If he likes you too, you can see why. Terezi is hot. She’s got this ass that really won’t quit, and that’s cliché as fuck, but you don’t even care because it’s true. Her hair is shoulder length and red – and not that shit-outta-the-bottle red – proper ginger red. She’s pale, and she’s got lots of freckles, and she’s got this killer smile – dangerous enough to match her bright red glasses. She says she’s got a cane back in the Staff Room that she sometimes uses for helping her see, but really doesn’t need it half the time and uses it as a weapon instead.  She makes you smile, and that’s not something you do often, so it makes you feel good.

 

You dump your bag by the side of the bus and the others copy you. Peering in through the window of the bus, you can see Meenah still holding Vriska’s hand, and the blood all over Rose’s. Vriska’s long blonde hair is splayed all around her, making her skin glow, and her large-framed hipster glasses – matching Eridan’s, you notice – are askew. Speaking of Eridan, you see him sitting on the ground near the back of the bus with his arms folded. You decide to make friends.

 

“Yo,” you sit down next to him.

 

“W-What do you want?”

 

“Hey, you didn’t do the stutter that time.”

 

“It’s not every fuckin’ ‘w’ that it happens,” he mumbles, “just mosta them.”

 

“Bum deal,” you say, digging into your pack and taking out a water bottle. You haven’t had anything to drink yet today, which is stupid. You gesture the bottle towards Eridan, but he shakes his head. “Suit yourself,” you say as you take a gulp.

 

“So w-where are you guys headed?” He asks you.

 

“Got ourselves a plan,” you say, “gonna put a stop to everything, if we can.”

 

Eridan frowns deeply and stares at you.

 

“You’re outta your fuckin’ mind,” he says, “There’s no way anyone can stop this shit. It’s already happened.”

 

“Yeah,” you nod and smile a little sadly, “chances are we won’t survive. But,” you turn to face him and look him in the eyes, “we’re gonna try our best.”

 

He turns away from you.

 

“Your eyes are still fuckin’ creepy,” he tells you. You laugh.

 

“Think I don’t know that already? Where’s your cousin at?” Eridan shrugs.

 

“Probably having a smoke. He’s not got many left, but he does it when he’s stressed. Went through two after he shot Vriska yesterday.”

 

“Yesterday, huh? Our timing could’ve been better.”

 

“Yeah, w-well. Guess you need to step your fuckin’ game up.” You laugh at that. This guy really isn’t so bad.

 

“Do you wanna join us?” You ask, “Come with us and help? You don’t have to join my little army or nothing, but it’d be nice to have some more company. You can bring your lame cousin if you want. And it’s not just you, don’t worry. I want to invite the others, too.”

 

“I’ll think about it,” he tells you, and that’s good enough for you. You nod.

 

“Dave!” John appears around the side of the bus, out of breath and looking panicked. You’re on your feet immediately.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“Horde!” He pants, pointing towards the front of the bus. “Too many of them!”

 

You look and swear when you see he’s right. You knew it had been too fucking quiet around here. Eridan’s at your side in seconds. He swears, mumbles something about finding his cousin, and then runs off somewhere. You barely notice. Your sword is already in your hand and you’re storming up to the front of the bus where Jade, Jake and Roxy have all assumed battle stance. John follows you close behind.

 

“Gamzee, Terezi,” you say, not looking but expecting them to be paying attention, “I sure as fuck hope you’re willing to help us out right now because if it’s just us,” you gesture to your party, “against that,” you point to the oncoming horde, “then we’re royally fucked.”

 

“You have my sword,” Terezi says resolutely and you want to hit her for the fucking LOTR reference right now, but there’s no time.

 

“Don’t even have to ask, brother,” Gamzee shoulders a baseball bat and sports a shit-eating grin that gives you chills.

 

The horde is approaching slowly. From what you can see, you’d guess there are around fifty of them, all performing a communal shuffling step. You probably shouldn’t think of it as a performance, actually…you’re getting Thriller flashbacks.

 

“Keep them as far from the bus as you can. Last thing Rose needs right now is a bunch of those assholes rocking her operating table.”

 

“Roger,” Jake says, pulling out both of his pistols. “I suggest Jade, Roxy and I stay here to guard the bus, whilst you, John, Gamzee and Terezi take them on head on, what do you say?”

 

“I say sure why the fuck not,” you glance at John. “That alright with everyone?”

 

You receive nods all around. You fucking hate fighting sometimes. Just might be the last time you see John.

 

“Right then. Let’s go.”

 

***

 

The fight doesn’t last long. Gamzee fucking tears up the field, which is amazing considering all he has is a baseball bat. Eridan and Cronus join the fight, Cronus with an axe, and Eridan with a pistol, and you all made quick work of the horde. You begrudgingly thank Jake when the six of you head back seeing as he got a nice hit on this topless dead chick that was trying to eat you at one point.

 

You’re pretty much covered in blood by now and it makes your clothes cling to you uncomfortably. Gamzee’s a bit worse off than you, but he’s still smiling.

 

“You got some skill there guys,” you tell the new-comers when everyone’s had something to drink.

 

“Not so bad yourself,” Terezi grins, nudging you with her elbow.

 

“I wouldn’t mind bringing you all with us on this journey,” you gesture to the fabulous bus, “if you want to tag along.”

 

A hand clutches your sleeve and pulls you away from the group for a minute. You’re staring into John’s bright blue eyes.

 

“Don’t you think we should discuss this with the others first?” He asks you, frowning.

 

“My army, my rules,” you say, only half-joking, but he doesn’t need to know that.

 

“We’re not ‘your army’ Dave!” He’s trying not to raise his voice, and you can tell it’s difficult for him. You’re a little surprised actually, and you guess this shows without your shades because his face softens immediately. “I mean, I’m willing to accept you as a leader here, seeing as you know what you’re doing, but we’re not an army. You’ve seen us. We can fight pretty well against these not-even-humans without limbs and stuff, but what you’re expecting of us? It’s a long shot, and you know it.”

 

Your jaw stiffens. He’s right.

 

“Doesn’t mean we can’t fucking try,” you tell him, “and if that means we need more people in this group then so be it.”

 

“Dave, just…all I’m trying to say is we don’t know if we can trust these guys,”

 

“They’re survivors,”

 

“That might not be enough Dave. You know some of the people we’ve met in the past – you know what some of them are like!”

 

“They were not survivors,” you say, “they were just lucky they weren’t dead yet. There’s a difference. These people know how to fight – and they know how to fight well. I haven’t even seen Meenah go yet, but if she’s the one leading this group of Class-A Zombie Smashers, then I’m willing to bet she’s got some fucking brawn behind her. These guys?” You nod subtly towards them. “I see in them what I saw in Jane, in Karkat, in Sollux…all the people we have picked up on our way. That drive – that need – to fight and live.”

 

“Okay,” John nods, sighing. “Okay, if you trust them then so do I.” He smiles at you and you pat his shoulder to express your gratitude. As soon as your hand is gone from him though, he frowns at the newcomers again. You let it slide. He hadn’t acted this way with the others you’d all picked up on the way, so you knew something was off. Still, your team needed these people if it was going to have any chance of success.

 

“We’ll see if everyone else is chill with it though, man.” He smiles again and nods, sort of a ‘thanks for listening to me’ gesture, you reckon.

 

You go back to the group, ignoring the questioning looks, and take Roxy, Jade and Jake off to one side to ask their opinion. They’re all pretty keen on the idea – especially Roxy who says she thinks Eridan and Rose are gonna get along pretty well.

 

After promising John you’ll have a word with Rose and Karkat before you offer to bring the others along for the fifteenth time; the doors to the bus suddenly open. Rose steps out, sighing heavily and wiping her bloody hands on her black skirt. Very impractical for fighting, you’d told her, but she didn’t seem to want to wear anything else other than skirts. The group outside goes quiet and stares at her.

 

“Well,” she said, “the procedure was mildly successful,” she begins, before Cronus cuts across her.

 

“Mildly successful? How’s that even a fuckin’ thing?” You tap your sheathed sword to his chest.

 

“Calm your shit, dog. This ain’t how we handle shit in my clique. You let the lady speak.” You nod to Rose for her to continue.

 

“Yes, mildly. Whilst she is still alive and in stable condition, I am afraid I was unable to save her arm.” She catches her bottom lip between her teeth for a fraction of a second; but you spot it. You know that means she’s disappointed with herself.

 

“You did all you could,” you tell her, “and that’s a fuck lot better than what any of us could have done.”

 

“Or what any of us motherfuckers could’ve done for her if you ain’t all up and rolled into our Walmart.” You’re surprised to hear comfort coming from Gamzee of all people. He doesn’t really strike you as the overly caring type.

 

Rose smiles slowly, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She thanks you both for your compliments and then sighs.

 

“I will need to keep an eye on her for a few days. I spoke with Meenah and, Dave, I hope this was not out of turn for me to do, but I suggested they join us.”

 

“To be honest, I was kinda hoping to ask her and these jokers the same thing.” You nod to the rest of the group. Terezi grins at you, and Cronus and Eridan scowl at you for calling them ‘jokers’.

 

“I’m staying with Vriska no matter what so,” Terezi heads over to you, fumbling around in the air for a while before she finds your shoulder, “count me in.”

 

“I ain’t about to leave my motherfucking group now,” Gamzee cuts in, “not after everything we’ve all up and been through.”

 

“And this kid isn’t gonna last two seconds without the rest’a the group; so we’re staying too,” Cronus grumbles. You smile at them all.

 

“Well then,” you say, heading to the doors of the bus and climbing up the first step, “good to have you all on board.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But how does anyone actually write paragraphs? Like long-ass fucking paragraphs that are paragraphs? How is that something people can do? 
> 
> I just.  
> I don't know how to paragraphs.   
> Help  
> help me please  
> i
> 
> help??


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is like five whole words wow

You introduce the group to Karkat and Rose first, which goes pretty well. When you introduce him to Terezi, Karkat speaks for the first time since Sollux died to greet her, and you swear you see little heart floating above his head. You’re not surprised. Terezi’s pretty hot. There was a big shock when Gamzee and Karkat met. Apparently they’d gone to high school together, back in the day, and had been best friends or something. They hugged and everything, which wasn’t something you saw Karkat do often. The two of them sat at the back of the bus together, ignoring everyone else. Well, Karkat kept glancing at Terezi, but apart from that.

 

Eridan and Rose were getting on pretty well too, actually, which you hadn’t expected. Apparently they were both into, like, wizards and magic and shit. You didn’t really care to be honest. You were a lot more concerned with a different relationship that had blossomed in the hour you had all been on the bus.

 

“Hahaha! No way! That’s amazing! And you got his autograph?”

 

“Sure did, John. Had it with me for a while too but, soooooooomeone decided to come and help me out rather than jump over the fence and save it!”

 

“Vriska, as your mother, I can tell you this for certain – no fucking way is a shitty autograph worth more than your safety.” Meenah props her feet up on the seat in front of her and inspects her nails, which are painted. You don’t even know how she found the time for that shit.

 

The relationship you’re talking about, though, is, of course, the one between John and Vriska. Vriska did keep slipping in and out of consciousness, so they didn’t get to talk too often, but when they did it seemed that they had quite a lot in common. Shitty movies and shittier movie stars being one of them.

 

“Wow, Nic Cage was just so great, wasn’t he?” John sighs dreamily, and you want him to sigh dreamily at you, not at stupid fucking Nicholas Cage.

 

“Such a dreamboat,” Vriska adds, her own wistful look on her face. Her hair is long, wild and blonde, her eyes a deeper shade of blue than John’s. She’s got an athletic build, clearly built for running, and a wide smile. Of course, you do have more arms than her, but that’s a bit of a sore spot right now. Literally. Vriska’s long black jacket sleeve has been folded and tied around the stub of what used to be her left arm. She’s taking the pain like a champ. Barely mentions it. It’s annoying how strong and brave she is. You really want to hate her.

 

You grab the bag of clothes and pull out some new ones for yourself, guessing everyone else can take your lead after you get first pick. There isn’t a lot in your size, and you’re not exactly the biggest supporter or Walmart clothing; but when you pull out a black tank top, you just know it’s what he would have chosen, and so you choose it. You’re not a fan of the colour black, seeing as you’re whiter than a sheet of A4, but you hold it up, and you see John looking at you, and you throw it over your shoulder and look for some pants to wear with them.

 

Eventually you find some new socks, boxers and a pair of grey jeans – not ideal for fighting, but it was either those or John had picked out some lovely pink cycle shorts in your size. You’d passed the bag around. Meenah, Vriska and Cronus (who had remained surprisingly clean during the battle) passed, but everyone else decided to get some new rags. The matter now, of course, was finding a place to get changed.

 

As the areas around them seem to grow more secluded, and the sun starts to set, you spot a house not too far from the road, but far enough to most likely be unoccupied, and suggest going there to get dressed and spend the night.

 

“W-Why can’t we just keep driving through the night?” Eridan asks.

 

“English is the only one who’s any good at driving shit. He’s gotta rest at some point.” You tell him.

 

“I can drive,” Meenah tells you, but you shake your head.

 

“Nah, it’s best to have people in their best shape during the day. Thing about these bastards is they don’t get too angry at night – they tend to attack during sunlight hours. Their eyes are sensitive to the sun. The pain is part of what makes them how they are. Rage monsters. Like The Hulk, but not as cool,” you inform them.

 

“You know an awful fuckin’ lot about these things,” Cronus frowns at you, “and your eyes are pretty similar to them too. Something tells me you’re hiding something.”

 

“Well that’s for me to know, man.” You tell him and then look away. John’s looking at you again; Vriska asleep on his shoulder…and that was you a few hours ago. You break that eye contact too.

 

The bus slows to a stop and you take Roxy and Jade with you to scope out the place. You all three come back with the all clear and the party heads inside.

 

You break from the group to change first. John goes to follow you but you tell him you’ve got this and slip away. The room you come across is a bathroom, mirror still intact. Facing it, you peel off your shirt. The branded mark on your chest is ugly. The skin is paler than the rest of your skin, and puckered, unlike the rest of your scars, which just look like faint lines now. You have a few fresh cuts and scrapes, but nothing that really needs medical attention. You stare at the mark between your nipples – the circle surrounding two curved lines and a straight one joining the two. You wince as you recall the feeling of the burning, the unbelievable pain of being seared like fucking cattle, the smell of melted flesh. You close your eyes and hear your own screams, and then Bro’s screams and then manic laughter and you wrench them open again.

 

Now’s not the time to think about that.

 

You turn, and look back over your shoulder. The bruise looks bad. You’re not sure if it looks better or worse than earlier, but it doesn’t look good at all. You’re going to have to heat up some water and get a hot flannel on this bad boy. Pulling on the tank top, you see it doesn’t cover the bruise, but it covers the brand and that’s all that matters. You change your socks, underwear, and pants and then go to join the others.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow another two words awesome i am so good i am the author it is me

“Looks bad,” a finger pokes your bruise and you turn, scowling.

 

“Well gee, Rose. I hadn’t fucking noticed.”

 

She holds up both of her hands and smiles at you, reaching behind her to hand you a hot wet rag. You sigh with relief.

 

“I’m so glad that isn’t a gun.” She laughs and you smile, lying down on your front as she presses the cloth to your back. You nearly moan from the instant relief you feel, but you rein it in. You hear someone else approach and then take in a sharp breath.

 

“Looks rough, buddy.”

 

“I’m not sure if you’re aware, but Vriska lost her arm today. I think I’m better off than that,” you snap.

 

“Well, I’m awfully sorry anyway, chap.” Jake English kneels in front of you and you have to look at his stupid face. “Rose?” He asks her, and you can’t see their faces, but his hands have taken over on the hot-rag-applying side of things and then he says: “Do you mind? Thanks,” and Rose is gone.

 

“What do wan-” you begin, but Jake cuts you off.

 

“We need to talk about Dirk, Dave.”

 

“Fuck off do we.” Your reply is instantaneous and filled with venom. If Jake’s strong arm weren’t pinning you down by the sensitive skin on your back, you would get up and leave.

 

“You can’t very well tell me it doesn’t bother you when you’re doing what you are,” Jake replies coolly.

 

“And what is it that I’m doing?”

 

“You know perfectly well what.”

 

“I actually don’t, English, so if we could just-”

 

“That, for one thing,” he sighs, using air quotes with his free hand when he says “’English’. I have a first name. It’s Jake.”

 

“Okay, so you’re pissy that I’m not calling you Jake. Fine. But that has nothing to do with Bro.”

 

“You called me Jake before Dirk died.” Jake points out, and you’re angry that he noticed. “Dave, do you blame me for it?”

 

You want to tell him ‘yes’, but that wouldn’t be very cool of you. It also wouldn’t be the entire truth. Yes, you did know that Bro died saving Jake. You hate the fact that his last breath was wasted on telling the guy that he loved him. However, you also know that if it hadn’t been Jake, it would have been you. Bro was a hero – that’s what he did. He was bound to die protecting someone, and it just so happened that he died for Jake. Part of you was even a little jealous that he hadn’t died protecting you.

 

“No,” you tell him, which also isn’t the whole truth, but it will be better for the dynamic of the group if you say that. Jake sighs.

 

“I’m sorry that it happened, Dave. If it’s any consolation, I blame myself. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about how much better the team would be if I had died instead of him.” You’re impressed with how strong he sounds – how genuine – and you’d be lying if you hadn’t thought the same things.

 

“Well, that’s how it is. Ain’t any use thinking about what things could’ve been like. Things are how they are, and we can’t change that,” you tell him. He smiles.

 

“You sound an awful lot like him sometimes,” he says fondly, “and I notice you’ve dressed like him a little. You must miss him.”

 

“Nah, Strider’s don’t miss each other. We’re too cool for that shit.” It sounds lame and unconvincing even to you.

 

“Thank you, Dave,” he says after a long pause, “for being so strong. Not giving up. It’s difficult having to take the lead like this, especially after losing someone you love. Not everyone has the gusto,” he smiles and pats your head. You swat his hand away and he laughs. “I truly hope we can get along, chap. It’s what Dirk would have wanted, I believe.”

 

“Don’t call him that.” You meant it to be threatening, but it comes out as more of a plea.

 

“What? His name?” Jake asks.

 

“Yeah,” you say, quietly, “he was always ‘Bro’ to me. Doesn’t feel like we’re talking about the same guy.”

 

“If that’s what you want,” Jake says with a shrug. You nod.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ok i got two chapters for you

It’s agreed throughout the group that not everyone needs to keep watch tonight. You let everyone know that you will be sleeping for seven hours, no more, which means seven people should keep watch, really. They agree with that.   
  
You nominate yourself, but Rose tells you you’re being ridiculous and you need the rest right now. You begrudgingly agree. You’re pretty fucking tired.   
  
It ends up being John, Jade, Jake, Roxy, Jane and Karkat who volunteer. The newcomers aren’t so forthcoming.   
  
Meenah tells you that they never had someone keeping watch. They’d had traps set when they slept, strings attached to stacks of cans and shit. You say you just need one person from their group. You and Rose desperately need your beauty sleep, you tell her, and their help would be greatly appreciated.   
  
“I don’t know how much use I’ll be, but I’ll give ‘keeping watch’ a shot,”   
  
“Oh T-Pain, you’re the best,” you tell Terezi as she steps forward. “I ain’t like the fuckers are ninjas or whatever, so you can let us know if anything’s coming.”  
  
John offers to take the first watch, and he opts to stay by you and hold the hot cloth to your back as you sleep. You thank him, lying down with you face cushioned on his thigh and his large hand on your back. You’re just about falling asleep when he starts stroking your hair, and then that makes you fall asleep for real.   
  
You jolt awake with a start.   
  
Still lying on John, who’s now sleeping, you pull yourself up. You hear a faint groaning and you spin around, ignoring the sharp pain in your back. The door to the room you all are in is closed, but you can see the shadow of a figure underneath. Looking around, you see everyone is accounted for, and that everyone is asleep.   
  
You decide to make this a stealth kill.   
  
Silently picking up your sword, you gingerly step over your sleeping comrades and open the door.   
  
The zombies are fast runners, but slow movers. A horde can run at you faster than wind, but when they get to you, it’s a series of slow, but hard, clawing downward motions as they try to get you onto the ground. Once you’ve fallen, they pounce on you. They usually work in packs, so it’s very unlikely that you’ll get out alive once you’re down. Their jaws constantly snap, too, like piranhas; so if you’re in their way, the chances are you’ll get bitten. And once you’re bitten?  
  
Well.  
  
You become just like them.   
  
It’s a virus. It spreads through an exchange of fluids. You get bitten – their spit is in your blood. They so much as lick a wound of yours, and you’re fucked. One of the worst things is that, once someone’s been bitten, you can’t kiss them. Takes, on average, about twenty-four hours for someone to turn completely – and in all that time, you can’t kiss the ones you love one last time. That fucking breaks you.   
  
This one is alone, as far as you can see. Old, probably among the third or fourth breakouts, judging by its yellowing skin, missing teeth and tattered clothes. It’s sad to look at it. It was human once, male. Maybe he’d had kids. Grandkids. A wife. There was no way of knowing, really. Its hand swipes downward, missing you by a fraction, but you don’t wince. Instead, you draw your sword and slice its head clean off its body. It falls to the ground with a small thud, gurgling and eyes vacant as dirtied blood seeps from its neck on both ends. The body slumps down, much louder. You sheath your sword and close the door.   
  
Vriska is looking at you.   
  
“Sup,” you say. She looks really pale; probably from all the blood she’s lost. You’re willing to put money on the fact that it was her blood that drew the thing here.   
  
“Is no one keeping watch?” She asks. You shrug. “Who’s turn is it?” You shrug again.   
  
“I’ll do it,” you tell her, “go back to sleep. You’ve had a long day.”  
  
“Long few days, really,” she said, lying back down again.   
  
“Long few months,” you say back. She smirks at you.   
  
“Yeah. Damn fucking right.”


	12. Chapter 12

It’s been about a month since Meenah and the others joined your merry gang, and you still hadn’t told them the whole plan.   
  
“Brother, just tell us the whole deal here, yeah?” Gamzee asks you.   
  
You’re all sitting on the bus, which just ran out of gas. You’d all been stupidly lucky so far, coming across enough gas stations to fill the bus for as far as you’d come; but this was the end of that. It was time to abandon the bus. You’d been reluctant to tell the newcomers where you were headed.   
  
“Yeah, go on Dave. You tell these fuckers your ridiculous plan so they will all fuck off already,” Karkat snaps from the back. He’s been irritable since Sollux died, but he’d been getting on pretty well with Terezi, you’d noticed. She was back there with him now. She hits him over the head.   
  
“We’re not going anywhere, dumbass,” she tells him. You hear Jade giggling up front.   
  
“Do any of ya’ll know why the undead shit happened in the first place?”   
  
“Kinda,” Gamzee tells you. “It was a virus right? They said it had gotten into some of the food, and before it could be recalled…shit went down.”   
  
You nod. “Do you know which food was contaminated with the virus?” You’re met with blank faces. You sigh, knowing the reaction you’re about to get for saying what you’re about to say.   
  
“It was Betty Crocker products.”   
  
That is exactly what you were going to say, but John beat you to it. You look over at him, and you see the anger behind his eyes. He’d hated Betty Crocker before all of this had started, anyway. Cronus bursts into laughter.   
  
“You can’t be serious!” He says. “That’s fuckin’ ridiculous!”   
  
“Yeah man, Betty Crocker’s all kinds of bitchtits wicked,” Gamzee adds with a lazy smile. “She’s the bee’s motherfucking knees.”  
  
“The Crocker Corporation was taken over in 2003 by the Peixes family.” Jane stands up at the front of the bus, adjusting her glasses and frowning. “They bought out the company from under the Crocker’s feet in a cheap behind-the-scenes and highly illegal deal. Sadly, the Crocker’s were unable to find any lawyers willing to take their case. It’s assumed they were bought out, too. Ten years later, the Crocker products being put on the shelves were contaminated with a virus which began turning people into the mindless, flesh-craving monsters that we’re surrounded by today.”   
  
“Oh yeah? Why should we take your word for it?” Meenah asks. Her voice is higher in pitched and sounds a little panicked. Jane turns to her with a smile, holding out her hand.   
  
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I not introduce myself properly? The name is Jane,” she smiles as Meenah stares at the hand before her, confused. “Jane Crocker.”   
  
The newer members are silent. Meenah pales considerably.   
  
“So the plan is, we get ourselves to Crocker Headquarters, and we deal with these assholes for doing this,” you say, “simple as.”   
  
“W-Well how do we know they did it on purpose?” Eridan asks.  
  
“We don’t, really,” Jane shrugs, “But either way, if we want to get to the bottom of what happened, Crocker Corp is the place to go. That’s where we’ll find the answers.”  
  
“And what about after that, huh?” Meenah stands, frowning.   
  
“We’ve got a plan for afterwards,” you add with a slight nod, “involving getting the fuck out of here and finding a place where the fuckers won’t bother us.”  
  
“I mean, what are you gonna do when you find out your answers? Kill ‘em?”  
  
“Not if we can help it,” you shrug, “but if that’s what it comes to, then yes.”   
  
John nods at you resolutely, but that’s the only confirmation you get from anyone that this is a good idea. Everyone else looks quite hesitant; all except Meenah who just looks angry.   
  
“So you had this stupid fucking plan this whole time, and you were just going to let us come with you? Without knowing a fucking thing?”  
  
“Hey, Meenah, it ain’t that bad of a plan,” Cronus shrugs, and you immediately doubt the plan – but it was Bro’s plan, so you’re going to stick to it.   
  
“Yeah, Mom,” Vriska looks very confused by her mom’s outburst, “you’re freaking out over nothing.”  
  
At that, Meenah’s face softens slightly. She stares at Vriska for a long time before asking, “Do you want to stay with them?”  
  
“Yes.” Vriska doesn’t hesitate to answer and you almost breathe a sigh of relief. As much as you hate how close she and John have been getting, you know you need the extra firepower for the plan to work.   
  
“Okay then.”  
  
It’s decided. Meenah is staying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there you go that's like five entire word.


	13. Hiatus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My apologies

Hi everyone,

 

I'm really sorry, but this fic is going to be on an indefinite hiatus. I'll probably never finish it. I don't know why I decided to try writing an action fic, because that is three thousand percent not me, haha.

 

I'm sorry if you were particularly invested in the story. If anyone's got a burning desire to know, I can always tell you what I planned on happening? But I really doubt it's important to anyone haha.

 

Thanks for your support anyway!

 

Liv x


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